- Date
- July 23, 1982, 02:20 local (09:20 UTC)
- Place
- Valencia, CA
- Injuries
- 3 fatal, 6 minor; on the ground: 3 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N87701Bell UH-1B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report July 23, 1983
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19820723031869A
- Case key
- 72906
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Acft being used to film movie scene depicting attack of village typical of villges in viet nam. Acft was about 25 ft AGL & above location where special effects explosives were detonated. As the plt turned acft for camera coverage, acft'stail section was engulfed in fireball created by special effects explosion. T/r assembly separated & acft descended out of control. M/r blade struck 3 actors on ground. The board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the detonation of a debris-laden special effects explosion too near the acft. The proximity of the acft to the explosions was due to the failure to establish direct communications & coordination between the pilot, who was in charge of the acft operation, & the film director, who was in charge of the filming operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N87701
- Reported as
- Bell UH-1B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1162
- Airframe hours
- 5,817
- Engine
- Lycoming T53-L-11D, 920 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Operator
- Western Helicopters, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Rocky Mountain Helicopters
- Departed
- 4CA4 · Valencia, CA
- Destination
- 4CA4 · Valencia, CA
- Airport
- 4CA4 · Indian Dunes
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 35
- Certificates
- Private, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 4,514 total · 1,536 in this make and model · 4,364 as pilot in command · 60 in the last 90 days · 42 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- Variable at 2 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 167 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.